AA Thoughts For Today - December

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AA Thought for the Day

December 27

AA-Alive will be having a New Year's Eve & Day Alkathon!
For the New Year's Alkathon schedule and to sign up to help with a meeting, go to....
http://www.aa-alive.net/new-years-alkathon.html

Serenity
That word "serenity" looked like an impossible goal when we first saw the prayer.
In fact, if serenity meant apathy, bitter resignation, or stolid endurance,
then we didn't even want to aim at it.
But we found that serenity meant no such thing.
When it comes to us now, it is more as plain recognition —
a clear-eyed, realistic way of seeing the world, accompanied by inner peace and strength.
- Living Sober, p. 19

Thought to Ponder . . .
Serenity isn't freedom from the storm; it is peace within the storm.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
K I S S = Keep It Serenely Simple.

~*~A.A. Thoughts For The Day~*~

Surrender
Such is the paradox of AA regeneration:
strength arising out of complete defeat and weakness,
the loss of one's old life
as a condition for finding a new one.
But we of AA do not have to understand that paradox;
we have only to be grateful for it.
Bill W.
c. 1957, 1985AAWS, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, p. 46

Thought to Consider . . . .
We surrender to win

*~*~*AACRONYMS*~*~*
K I S S = Keep It Simple, Surrender

*~*~*~*~*^Just For Today!^*~*~*~*~*

Autonomy
>From "When A.A. Came of Age":
"Some may think that we have carried the principle of group autonomy to extremes. . . .
"But this ultra-liberty is not so risky as it looks. In the end the innovators would have to adopt A.A. principles "at least
some of them" in order to remain sober at all. If, on the other hand, they found something better than A.A., or if they
were able to improve on our methods, then in all probability we would adopt what they discovered for general use
everywhere. This sort of liberty also prevents A.A. from becoming a frozen set of dogmatic principles that could not be
changed even when obviously wrong." Bill W., 1959
2001 AAWS, Inc.; Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, pgs. 104-05

*~*~*~*~*^ Grapevine Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"My miracle occurred when I became willing to go to any lengths to take action. Like the trapeze artist, it wasn't the knowledge of it being there -- it was the action of letting go."
Lexington, Ky., April 2002
"God, the Verb,"
Spiritual Awakenings

~*~*~*~*^ Big Book & Twelve N' Twelve Quotes of the Day ^*~*~*~*~*

"We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can
quickly diagnose yourself, Step over to the nearest barroom and try
some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop abruptly. Try it
more than once. It will not take long for you to decide, if you are
honest with yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters
if you get a full knowledge of your condition."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, More About Alcoholism, pg. 31~

"I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness within.
Common sense would thus become uncommon sense. I was to sit quietly
when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my
problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except
as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then only might I
expect to receive. But that would be in great measure."
~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Bill's Story, Page 13~

The second difficulty is this: what comes to us alone may be garbled by our own rationalization and wishful thinking.
-Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.60

Misc. AA Literature - Quote

When a man or a woman has a spiritual awakening, the most important meaning of it is that he has now become able to
do, feel, and believe that which he could not do before on his unaided strength and resources alone. He has been
granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being.
He has been set on a path which tells him he is really going somewhere, that life is not a dead end, not something to be
endured or mastered. In a very real sense he has been transformed, because he has laid hold of a source of strength
which he had hitherto denied himself.

Prayer for the Day: I am a child of God. In God I live and move and have my being; so I do not fear. I am surrounded by
the Presence of God and all is well. I am not afraid of the past; I am not afraid of the present; I am not afraid of the
future; for God is with me. The Eternal God is my dwelling place and underneath are the everlasting arms. Nothing can
touch me but the direct action of God Himself, and God is Love.." By: Dr. Emmet Fox. Written in 1931